Welcome to Central Asia in Focus, a newsletter offering insight and analysis on events shaping the region’s political future. I’m Bruce Pannier. In this month’s edition: Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan came to a final agreement on border demarcation after more than 33 years, Turkey began to receive Turkmen gas following a new deal, and more.

In the Region

EU-Central Asia Summit

The first-ever EU-Central Asia summit took place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on April 3-4, addressing issues of connectivity, energy, and climate change.

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and President of the European Council Antonio Costa joined the presidents of the five Central Asian countries to plot a course for cooperation in the coming years.

The EU unveiled a 12 billion euro ($13.2 billion) investment package for Central Asia at the start of the summit.

That is on top of the 10 billion euros ($10.6 billion) the EU pledged for transportation infrastructure and logistics in early 2024 as part of the EU’s Global Gateway Strategy.

Connectivity between Europe and Central Asia has become an especially important topic since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The EU imposed sanctions that included prohibitions on goods shipped through Russian territory. This left not only Central Asia, but also China, in a dilemma and prompted new efforts at developing alternative trade routes to Europe that avoided Russia.

Part of Global Gateway seeks to expand the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) that connects Europe and Central Asia through the South Caucasus and Caspian Sea.

Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev noted during the summit that the volume of container transportation in 2024 increased by 62 percent, totaling 4.5 million tons.

The goal for TITR is to reach 10 million tons annually by 2027. Three billion euros of the investment fund are slated for transportation projects.

Critical raw materials received great attention and von der Leyen noted Central Asia possesses 40 percent of global reserves of key resources like manganese, lithium, and graphite.

Toqaev mentioned Kazakhstan produces 19 of the 34 critical raw materials necessary for the EU economy and is the leading producer of uranium.

Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan also have significant reserves of an assortment of critical raw materials.

The investment package includes 2.5 billion euros for critical minerals development.

Another 6.4 billion euros goes toward developing hydropower and other renewable energy projects and fighting the effects of climate change in Central Asia, one of the hardest-hit regions in the world.

Why It’s Important: For years, Central Asia’s main trading partners have been China and Russia.

Dependence on those two countries has limited Central Asia’s export and import potential and given Moscow and Beijing significant influence over the Central Asian countries.

The EU partnership gives Central Asia important options in trade, as well as funding for energy projects and the development of strategies for alleviating the effects of climate change.

The partnership provides the EU a new source for obtaining critical minerals and allows the EU to break China’s stranglehold over the industry. 

List of Kazakhs Recruited by Russia to Fight in Ukraine

I Want to Live (Hochu Zhit), a project run by Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, released the names of 661 people the center says are citizens of Kazakhstan who are, or have joined, Russian forces fighting Ukraine.

I Want to Live (Hochu Zhit) is run by Ukraine’s Defense Ministry and Main Directorate of Intelligence as a “helpline” for Russian servicemen in Ukraine who wish to surrender.

The project compiled the names of citizens from Kazakhstan, including their birthdays and when they signed contracts to serve in the Russian military, and listed at least 78 as killed in combat.

The list was posted on the center’s X (formerly Twitter) account.

Kazakhstan’s Orda.kz media outlet tracked Russian recruitment efforts on websites such as VKontakte that are available to citizens in CIS countries, including Kazakhstan.

Orda.kz reported the online advertisements to join the Russian military “most often promised a payment of 3.5 million rubles” for signing a contract.

Orda.kz created a fictional VKontakte account under the name “Alisher” and responded to Russian military recruitment advertisements.

“Alisher” received promises of an airplane ticket to Russia, someone waiting at the airport to meet him, fast-tracked Russian citizenship, and monthly pay of 210,000 rubles for serving in the “special military operation,” the term Russian officials use for the war in Ukraine.

The payment for signing a contract was only 1.505 million rubles, however, Kazakhstan’s Interior Ministry said it is investigating the information posted by I Want to Live (Hochu Zhit).

Why It’s Important: While the exact number of Central Asians who have joined the Russian military and been sent to Ukraine is unknown, it is certainly in the thousands.

In September 2024, there were reports that 124 citizens of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan were among the Russian troops killed in Ukraine.

I Want to Live (Hochu Zhit) said it will post a list of citizens of Uzbekistan who joined the Russian military since February 2022. 

Majlis Podcast

The latest Majlis podcast discusses the environmental situation in the Caspian Sea.

The Caspian Basin is rich in oil and natural gas that all the littoral countries are extracting, but in the process, unique marine life and other fauna are dying off from pollution.

Can these countries find a balance that preserves both these vital sources of revenue and the well-being of the Caspian biosphere?

The guests on this podcast are:

• Vadim Ni, a lawyer, environmental activist, and founder of the Save the Caspian Sea movement; and
• Tatyana Sedova, an expert in extractive industries governance, civic participation and capacity building who has worked with organizations such as the World Bank and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. 

What I’m Following

The Rise of the Turkmen President’s Sister

RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service, known locally as Azatlyk, reports on the meteoric rise of another member of the Berdymukhammedov family, Oguljahan Atabaeva.

Atabaeva is the eldest daughter of Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, the former Turkmen President and current Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty (People’s Council). Her brother Serdar is currently Turkmenistan’s president.

Atabaeva was appointed vice president of the Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov Charitable Foundation in early December 2024.

Since then, Atabaeva is regularly shown on state television.

Atabaeva previously lived in London while her husband Davlat was an advisor at the Turkmen Embassy in Britain.  

Three Uzbek Citizens Sentenced to Death in UAE for Killing Rabbi

On March 30, a court in the United Arab Emirates sentenced three citizens of Uzbekistan to death and a fourth to life imprisonment for the killing of rabbi Zvi Kogan.

Kogan, an Israeli-Moldovan citizen, was abducted in Dubai on November 21, 2024. His body was found three days later.

The state prosecutor said the defendants tracked Kogan’s movements before kidnapping and killing him.

There will still be an appeal process, which is required under UAE law in cases where a death sentence is rendered.  

Fact of the Week

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released its report for 2025.

The report’s section on Tajikistan includes a call for “targeted sanctions on [State Committee on National Security] officials and others responsible for severe violations of religious freedom by freezing those individuals’ assets and/or barring their entry into the United States…”

Thanks for Reading

Thanks for reading Central Asia in Focus! I appreciate you sharing it with other readers who may be interested.

Feel free to contact me on X, especially if you have any questions, comments, or just want to connect about topics concerning Central Asia.

Until next time,
Bruce

P.S. – If you enjoyed this newsletter and don’t want to miss the next edition, subscribe here.